This is not my own work, it was given to me by a long term fan of Hull City. I know personally that the author of this piece was supporting City in the very early 70's and has supported them ever since........ THE PAST IS THE FUTURE. Harold Needler, The Godfather. Local man, invested heavily in the club, redeveloped the ground to one on the best in the country, invested heavily in the team. He was a property developer and received backing from the council. Took the club to the brink of the First Division.....then pulled back....investment stopped, council backing stopped,....club went bust....ending in Receivership.....achieved one promotion from the old 3rd division....loved and adored by the fans. Don Robinson. The Showman. Local.... saw the Receiver off on his bike....saved the club and promised us the moon.....we got a white horse instead. .....demolished the North Stand and sold the car park to a supermarket chain.....had plans for a 'Superdome Leisure Complex' but got blocked by the council.....never did actually own the club....the shadow of the Needlers hung over his tenture.....achieved two promotions.....loved and adored by the fans. Richard Cheatham, The Dreamer, local, Needler family member.....appointed Stan Ternant....backed him financially....but always question marks hung over Stan's ability in the transfer market.....dreamt of reaching the Big Time ( this was at the birth of the Premier League).....tried in vein to float 'The First Division Society' a scheme were fans could get involved in sponsoring the club with a chance of winning cash prizes.....had plans to develop Boothferry Park....dashed by the council and a lack of funds...delivered nothing during his time as chairman.........left through illness with the club floundering.....hated by the fans. Martin Fish. The Puppet.....local...small time accountant who took over the running of the club....appointed by reluctant owner, Christopher Needler....promised nothing....delivered nothing....but loved wringing his hands and bucket collections....always pleading poverty.....got no council help even when the club was on it's knee's begging at the High Court for a reprieve facing a winding up order, again, although the same council helped two other professional sports clubs in Hull at that time......sold all the best players...(some say had to) sold the club name plaque and lied about it, sold the crush barriers for scrap metal value.....oversaw two relegations and awarded manager Terry Dolan an extended contract for doing so...always claimed he worked for nothing, he didn't....he sacked the club secretary and took his job then claimed £80k for his services when the club finally went tits up.....achieved nothing......hated by the fans. David Lloyd. The Hero. Not local.....saved the club after the Fish and Dolan years......arrived as everyone's hero....packed the City Hall to meet his new chairman.....failed ex-Hull Fc player Tim Wilby who was supposed to be a big noise property developer and turned out to be a council caretaker.......Lloyd promised a new £25m stadium on council land.....but we had to share with Hull FC who he also bought and saved with council help....plans for his super stadium were blocked at every stage by the council....they wanted one of their own which we found out later.......separated the club from the ground and became our landlord instead.....handed running of the club over to the Sheffield Mafia then spat his dummy out after a stormy FC AGM were he was allegedly nutted, a tennis ball protest by City fans and non payment of rent by the clubs new owners so he locked us out of Boothferry Park to bring it all to a head........left £2m plus lighter....achieved nothing and left calling Hull people some not very nice names........hated by the fans. ...... Part two to follow......
Part 2. This is not my own work. I have been asked to post this on here. Stephen Hinchliffe aka The Sheffield Mafia or The Big I Am.. 'saved' the club......but didn't pay for it......promised to bring back the glory days......and work towards the new super stadium......just one snag, he was penniless.....changed the club badge, designed by his student son, more fitting for a Blue Peter assignment or his lads course work, and the club paid for it.....sold us a team bus making us the only club in the FL along with Manchester United to own our own team bus.....expensive too....oversaw the Great Escape....but achieved nothing and never paid for anything either....surprisingly not trusted by the council and they blocked everything....club went bust again....another Receivership.....hated by the fans. Adam Pearson. The Knight. 'saved' the club......with the help of shareholders who gave up all their shares.....costing some of them thousands of pounds......head hunted by a group of local businessmen and civic leaders to take the club into the new council owned stadium.......a man with little personal wealth but backed by Peter Wilkinson who worked previously as Peter Ridsdale's right hand man at Leeds United........the same man who destroyed LUFC......Saint Adam did and said all the right things.....got the club back on it's feet....and back up the league, helped by the new stadium and the bigger crowds.....he too had big plans for the stadium and surrounds, hotel and a super casino being high on the list.....but he got knocked back by the council and started to lose a bit of interest.......got his own back by tying up long term leases and contracts which left the council out of pocket on the rental they should have been receiving from the stadium.....the money ran out, his backer ran out of patience, and AP found us some nice new owners whilst pocketing a cool £7m profit..........loved by the fans. Russell Bartlett. The Suit. Bought the club off Pearson who hand picked him along with Paul Duffen.....property developer and media man...with big plans and bigger loans.....even managed to obtain a loan against something he didn't own, the stadium itself, spent a fortune and hit the jackpot when the club were promoted to the Premier League for the first time.......received no backing from the council for his plans to extend the stadium and no interest shown from them to get involved with developing the surrounding land,..........the property crash seemed to derail Bartlett and the football club was mortgaged to the hilt to maintain the lifestyle everyone involved was enjoying on the back of it........it couldn't last......relegation loomed.....the cash cow was dying and The Knight rode back into town to save us by appointing Ian Dowie.......we were relegated......all the money had gone......and we were bust........hated by the fans. Assem Allam. The Pharoe. Saved the club and the stadium from oblivion......could have waited for Receivership and paid a quid.......but paid £30m and cleared all the debts......sorted out Bartlett............upset everyone and Mr Barmby.......rid the club of Bullards contract........and gave us Steve Bruce.............unprecedented success then followed on the field.........broke club transfer records............broke up families.......tried to change our name......tried to buy and develop the stadium but got the now usual no response or encouragement from the council.........they backed a car park full of travellers instead..............gave us two promotions to the Premier League , and our first ever FA Cup Final and Europe.........a proper Academy.....disco lights.........and Ehab, who does a good interview but not with the local media..............who between them ran the best manager in the history of the club out of town...............may have found a worthy successor to the throne...........the king is dead long live the king..........so they achieved everything and more the fans had ever dreamt about..........yet............hated by the fans. Who ever is next I say GOD HELP THEM. .......
So... LOVED LOVED HATED HATED HATED LOVED HATED HATED ? ? The next but one owner is going to be a good 'un.
A bit potted, a few missing rogues, Tom Belton, the odious son Christopher Needler, the decent Bob Chapman?
That's probably why it's a potted history. I thought Hinchcliffe got off light and Buchanan got away scott free.
What was roguish about Belton? I know not living in Hull meant I often never got ''full stories'' but I always thought Belton was pushed out by the Sheffield mafia who he'd asked to invest in the club?
I once spent an afternoon with Tom when he 'hid' in my premises trying to avoid Hinchcliffe who wanted him to sign a cheque from the club to buy a battered old coach off Hinchcliffe himself.
I'm sure I read a linked newspaper article on the old CI board stating that Belton had written to all the directors accusing Buchanan of some form of skulduggery and that soon after he resigned from the board and was never seen at BP again.
Stimulating synopsis. For those too young to have lived through the 1960s onwards or for those were old enough but chose not to attend until the KC era, a timely reminder of where we have come from......and where we risk returning.
With the omission of Tim Wilby, I'm detecting the sickening stench of casual homophobia and 'othering',
